Art of ornamenting metals



, (ModeL) J. D. PLANOHAMP.

ART or ORNAMENTING METALS.

No. 256,732. Patented Ap1* .18, 1882.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN D. PLANGHAMP, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ART OF ORNAMENTING METALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 256,732, dated April 18, 1882,

Application filed February 15, 1882. (Specimens) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN D. PLANCHAMP, of Ghicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Ornamenting Watch-Cases and like Articles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in the process substantially as hereinafter described; and it con. sists in the art of uniting one kind of metal to another for the purpose of ornamenting watchcases, 850., and so as to have a body of the attached metal of sufficientthickness so that it may be engraved, and so as to have a sharplydefined outline of the desired design, and also to unite metals of different shades of the same color or of different colors by joining with sharply-defined outline, or elseblending them by laying one over the other, substantially as specified.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a sectional elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan, of a sheet of silver, a; b, an ornamental leat'in gold sunk into the silver by means of the punching-die d, of which the section is shown along one of the dotted cross-lines shown inl ig. 3; c, the metal left on the surface after the punch 01 has been driven upon the ornamental metal.

For example, if I wish to make a silver watch-case ornamented according to my new art, I take a pieceofsheet-silverof proper thickness and outline my ornamental design uponit. Over this design I lay a piece of gold of desired quality and color, or else join several pieces of the gold of various shades of color; or, instead ofjoining them with sharp or vertical outlines, 1 give them a wedge ortapering shape and lap one over the other and solder them to the silver'over the design outlined, as described. When the gold is soldered to the silver over the design it is driven into the body of the silver by means of a punch, of which the end is formed to correspond in shape and size to that of the required design, until the surface of the gold is on a level with that of the silver. The gold outside of the outline of the ornamental part is then removed, it being nearly cut away by the punch, as shown at e, and the remaining part filed down to the leveliof the surface of the silver, after which the outlines are made sharp by cutting away the ragged edges of the metal or metals with a graven. The metals which overlap each other may also be heightened in their effect by shaving down the overlapping parts or cutting fine lines through the upper into the under metal, so as to more perfectly blend the colors.

A watch-case so ornamented will retain its beauty a very much longer time than where lines are simply engraved into a single metal, which the moment they begin to wear begins to lose its beauty, whereas in this way no deterioration is perceptible until the punchedin metal and the body into which it is sunk are both worn away below the thickness of the ornamental metal.

What I claim is- The art of ornamenting watch cases by first soldering variously-shaded ornamental metals upon a body or ground metal and then driving them with a die of corresponding design into the ground metal, then trimming away the metal beyond the outlines of the sunken metal, and then blending and ornamenting the sunken metal, substantially as specified.

JOHN DARCINE PLANCHAMP.

Witnesses:

Jason M. BECKER, WM. ZIMMERMAN. 

